Masterarbeit

Cannabis in Switzerland: Considering Historic, Legal and Regulatory Aspects With Focus on Medicinal Use

Rosanne Kirchberg (2018)

Summary
Language: English
Cannabis sativa is one of the oldest cultivated plants and since then, the plant is used for recreational purposes, as a medicinal product and for industrial purposes such as food or fibre material.
Since 1951, the cannabis plant and its preparations are considered "prohibited" in the Federal Act on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances. The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, a milestone in the international drug control system, schedules cannabis and its preparations as controlled and prohibited substance. Due to the classification on the international and national basis, cannabis medicinal products, which had been widely used in Switzerland, finally disappeared in the middle of the last century.
With the partial revision of the Federal Act on Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances in 2011, the medicinal use of cannabis in the form of extemporaneous formulations with an exceptional licence for seriously ill patients is possible ("compassionate use").
The Federal Office of Public Health has issued more than 3300 exceptional licences, which is ten times more than in 2012, with no end in sight. There obviously is a need for cannabis medicinal products. But there is a "cannabis dilemma": on the one hand, empirical medicine expects a broad therapeutic potential, on the other hand, the results of evidence-based clinical research show only limited or contradictory efficacy.
The documentary Weed about little Charlotte, who suffers from the Dravet syndrome, caused a real hype around cannabidiol-containing non-medicinal products in the form of tobacco substitutes, raw material or foodstuffs, and various players see opportunities and market potential. The requirement for such products is a THC content less than 1%; otherwise, products are regarded as "narcotics". At the moment, the market is little or not at all regulated.
The discussion around cannabis and all its aspects is present more than ever and driven by various interests and institutions. The plant cannabis will still have to take many hurdles, be it social, medicinal, political or legislative hurdles.
Pages: 56
Annexes: -